


Seventeen

by Squeaky



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Alex Mercer is a good bro (Julie and The Phantoms), Birthday, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, It's hard being a teenage ghost, Post-Season/Series Finale, Rated 'T' for typical teen-level swearing, Reggie Peters Needs a Hug (Julie and The Phantoms), Reggie Peters-centric (Julie and The Phantoms)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:09:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28181430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Squeaky/pseuds/Squeaky
Summary: It's Reggie's birthday, but he's dead. He has a lot of feelings about it
Relationships: Alex Mercer & Reggie Peters (Julie and The Phantoms)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 106





	Seventeen

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MoonRiver](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MoonRiver/gifts).



> This is a gift for the incredibly generous and talented [MoonRiver](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MoonRiver). They wrote me an amazing Reggie-centric fic, and this is my chance to return the favour. The request was for a birthday or death day fic. I hope this suits
> 
> Beta'd by the supremely awesome [ Taste_is_Sweet. ](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Taste_is_Sweet/pseuds/Taste_is_Sweet) She made this fic better. 
> 
> This is my very first work in the JatP fandom :) Let me know what you think
> 
> * * *

Reggie stood on the beach, wind rustling his hair. 

It’d been a typical balmy day for February: warm enough by the afternoon that he almost didn’t need his leather jacket. He certainly didn’t need to layer with the plaid flannel he’d tied around his waist. But it was past five p.m. and the sun had started to set, making it colder. A sharp burst of wind caught him and he shivered. 

It still confused him, how he could feel the heat of the sun or the cool breeze from the ocean, or the way the sand crunched underfoot. He was dead, after all. Dead for over twenty-five years. And yet it sometimes felt like he was still part of the world, still someone who actually existed. 

He smirked with no humour at the thought. He’d barely existed when he was _alive,_ just pushing himself through every day to get to what really mattered: being friends with Luke, Alex and Bobby and playing with _Sunset Curve._ His mouth twisted. If he hadn’t had them, he knew he wouldn’t have needed a fucking hot dog to kill him. It would’ve already happened. 

He looked at the ocean, how vast and empty it was. This early in the year there were almost no one on the beach and even fewer in the water. The few stragglers left would pack up and leave as soon as the sun finished setting. He'd be alone. 

Before he’d even finished that thought, Alex _poofed_ beside him. He shoved his hair back with one hand and looked at Reggie with worried blue eyes. Alex had always been a bit taller than him, ever since grade school. Reggie had always thought he’d catch up eventually and that they’d end up the same height, but that possibility had literally died with them.

And that was the real problem, wasn’t it? He was going to be seventeen forever. 

“I thought I’d find you here,” Alex said after a moment of contemplative silence. “Why don’t you come back to the studio? Flynn’s there.” 

The thought of Flynn, her bright eyes and happy smile made Reggie smile in return. But then he shook his head. “I’m good here, thanks.” 

Alex sighed. “Reggie—”

“I’m good!” Reggie said sharply. 

“You don’t really sound it. Besides, the wind’s cold.” Alex shivered.

“I know it’s cold,” Reggie snapped. “It’s February.” 

“February twenty-third, to be exact,” Alex said quietly. He looked at Reggie out of the corner of his eye. 

Reggie didn’t take the bait. Instead, he bent down and picked up a handful of sand. He could feel the gritty texture against his palm, the way the small grains were warmer than the air, having trapped the heat of the day. “Do you ever wonder why we can feel stuff? Like the sun and wind?”

“I wonder a lot of things about…this,” Alex said. “Like, why can I feel my own heartbeat, but I don’t feel hungry?”

Reggie nodded. “Yeah. That’s pretty weird.” 

“I don’t get it. I mean, isn’t dead like, _dead?_ Y’know?”

Reggie shrugged. “Guess not.” 

They stood, facing the ocean and the wind. Alex’s blond bangs blew across his forehead and he jammed his hands into the pocket of his hoodie. He looked uncomfortably cold.

“You can go back, if you want,” Reggie said. “I’m okay.” 

“You’re not okay and we both know it,” Alex said.

“I’m fine,” Reggie said 

“And that’s why you’re standing on the same beach where you used to live. By yourself. On your birthday.”

“It’s not my birthday.”

Alex looked at him. “As if.” 

“It’s not my birthday!” Reggie threw the sand he’d been holding and watched as it scattered in the wind.

“It is!” Alex crossed his arms. “You’re a Pisces born on February twenty-third! Today’s your eighteenth birthday! Why would you say it’s not?” 

“Because I’m never going to turn eighteen, am I?” Reggie shouted. “We died when we were seventeen! I _died!_ And I’m never going to get older! So, it doesn’t matter that today’s my birthday! _It doesn’t fucking matter!_ ” He sat down on the sand, head in his hands. 

A moment later he heard Alex sit down beside him. “I hadn’t thought of it like that,” he said quietly. “Fuck.” 

“Yeah.” Reggie lifted his head, smirking mirthlessly. “We get to stay seventeen forever. Yay.” He turned to look at the two stores further up the beach, where his old house used to be. His mother had always said the small bungalow had been built around World War One, that it was an antique and therefore special. She’d loved that little house so much. It was the only thing that had really brought her any joy, and now it was gone. “My house is a fucking bike shack.” He traced his fingers through the sand. 

“That didn’t happen when you were seventeen,” Alex said. 

“No shit.” Reggie rolled his eyes. “But it happened. Twenty-five _years_ happened. And we missed all of it.” 

“But we’re here now,” Alex said. “And that’s got to count for something. Right?”

“But why are we here?” Reggie threw up his hands. “We played the _Orpheum,_ and we’re still here! What’s the fucking point?” 

“We must still have unfinished business,” Alex said. “Something different than playing the _Orpheum._ ”

“Duh.” Reggie made a face. “We were seventeen when we died. Our whole lives were unfinished business.” 

“Well, yeah. I guess.” Alex rested his forearms on his bent knees and looked at Reggie. “So, what is it?” 

“What’s what?”

“Your unfinished business?” 

“What’s yours?” Reggie shot back. 

“Dunno. But I’m…I’m pretty sure it has to do with dating a guy. You know, without having to hide.” His face went as pink as his shirt.

“That’s going to be hard when no one can see you or your ghost boyfriend,” Reggie said meanly. 

“Jeez, Reggie, you don’t need to be such a dick.” Alex scowled at him. 

“Sorry,” Reggie mumbled. He looked down at where he’d been idly tracing in the sand. He saw he’d written ‘Flynn’ and promptly erased it. 

“So, what’s your unfinished business, huh?” Alex challenged. “I told you mine.” 

_Kiss Flynn,_ he thought immediately. “I don’t know,” he said instead. “I didn’t really think a lot about stuff I wanted to do, like, before.” 

Alex’s expression turned far too knowing. “It didn’t really feel like there was much of a future, did there?”

“Not outside of Sunset Curve, it didn’t. Glad we had that.” He smiled, but he knew it didn’t reach his eyes.

“Yeah,” Alex sighed. “Our parents were fucking awful.” 

“The worst,” Reggie agreed. He thought of the last time he’d seen them: The way his dad’s eyes had narrowed with such absolute hate; the way he’d cornered Reggie in his bedroom, his leather belt curled around his palm with the buckle swinging freely… Reggie rubbed the side of his ribs where his father had struck him, remembering the welts and dark bruising. He hadn’t been able to take a deep breath for almost three days. 

Alex noticed. “I’m glad you moved out,” he said quietly. 

“It was really decent of Bobby to give us a place to stay.” 

“Yeah, Bobby was pretty awesome back then,” Alex said. “I wonder what happened?”

“We died,” Reggie said simply. 

“I hadn’t thought of it like that, either,” Alex mused. “All three of his best friends…and I thought dying was the bad part!” He shuddered. 

“At least we’re together,” Reggie said. 

“At least we’re together,” Alex repeated. He bopped him on the shoulder.

Reggie swayed with the impact. “Quit it!” he said, but he was smiling. 

“No,” Alex said, and bopped him again, which of course meant that Reggie had to tackle him backwards into the sand. They wrestled for a bit, laughing as they tried to gain the upper hand on each other. Finally, Alex managed to get Reggie onto his back and straddle his hips, pinning his hands. “Say uncle!” he laughed. 

“Uncle! Uncle!” Alex rolled off him. “Jesus, Mercer,” Reggie wheezed. “You’re heavy.” 

“I’m also cold,” Alex said, head turned so he could look at Reggie even while lying on his back in the sand. “Can we go back to the studio now? Please?”

Reggie stared up into the sky. It was now full dark, and a few stars were even visible despite the lights all around them. He remembered going outside with his mom when he lived there and staring at the stars. _That’s Orion’s belt,_ she’d say, pointing at the sky, _and that’s the big dipper._ He’d felt so small then, and so safe in her company. So sure that she loved him best of all. 

It made him think of Flynn, with her kind eyes and even kinder heart. He loved looking at her. He wished she could see him if he weren’t playing music. He wished he weren’t dead. 

But then again, if he’d never eaten that hot dog, he’d be 42 right now. And even if by some crazy miracle he still knew Julie and Flynn, the relationship would be different, and probably weird because he’d be a dad or something and they’d be kids. And he wouldn’t be playing music with Julie and the Phantoms, or being able to watch as Julie and Luke and Alex and Willie fell in love. 

Watching your best friends fall in love was kind of cool, he had to admit. As was having these feelings for Flynn, even if he had no clue how to tell her that he liked her. _I’d really like to kiss her,_ he thought. He traced the sand with his hands, feeling the cool grittiness against his fingers. He was more solid now than he’d ever been before, thanks to Julie and whatever magic she’d used to save them from Caleb’s curse. Alex and Luke had said she wasn’t a witch, but he wasn’t so sure. He thought maybe she was a good witch. The best. Like the shiny blue one in the _Wizard of Oz._ Maybe he’d be solid enough for Flynn to see him now. Or touch, or… 

He turned to look at Alex. “Yeah.” 

Alex beamed at him. “Race you!” He _poofed_ out. 

Reggie chuffed out a laugh before facing the stars once again. He clasped his fingers behind his head and stared upwards. He’d heard once in physics class that stars were so far away, any light you saw had travelled thousands of years to hit your eye. Looking at the sky was like looking at the past. Some of the stars might even be dead, but were still burning bright. 

_Like us,_ he thought. _Dead, but still bright forever, like our song._ The idea made him smile. 

He _poofed_ out, ready to go home.


End file.
